While most national level Republicans have publicly been cheerleading Donald Trump, hoping that he wins the presidential election, Politico reports that behind the scenes, many of them are actually rooting for Kamala Harris. And honestly, this doesn't surprise me [00:00:16] because I remember speaking at a the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce event, I was debating Ben Shapiro there publicly. Outwardly, everyone loves Trump privately. Oh, the crap talking was pretty intense. [00:00:33] Now we're learning about this thanks to a column in Politico by Jonathan Martin titled If Republicans Want to Win, they need Trump to lose big to dominate the country once more, Republicans need to hasten the move to a post-Trump party. [00:00:48] So in it, Martin argues that Harris is less a doctrinaire progressive than she is up for grabs on policy. But any liberal course she takes would be constrained by a GOP held Senate. [00:01:04] So that is what they're banking on. They're hoping that Republicans take control of the Senate. By the way, if Republicans have control of either chamber, that means we're going to get gridlock. And so any proposal that might be too progressive for Republicans, [00:01:19] they can just be obstructionists and prevent it from passage. Oh. And she would be the first Democrat to enter the presidency since 1884 without majorities in both chambers. Should Republicans flip the Senate? That adds up to a recipe for gridlock, and perhaps some deal making to fund [00:01:37] the government and avoid across the board tax hikes, but not a Scandinavian social welfare state, God forbid. Which she's definitely going to institute. She hasn't even really proposed anything even close to that. But okay. Yeah. So the idea here is, look, I think most people who have been paying [00:01:57] attention know, like most Republican lawmakers do not like Trump, and they feel like they have to support him publicly because of where the Republican electorate is like the Republican electorate loves Trump. Republicans in office don't necessarily love Trump. [00:02:14] So if Kamala Harris wins, well, then finally their Trump problem is gone. Maybe, right? Maybe. I mean, who knows. But they think he'll be gone. We'll have gridlock in Congress. And so we don't have to worry about Kamala Harris actually accomplishing anything. [00:02:30] And then we can pave the way for a. In their minds, better Republican to run against Harris in the next election cycle. Yeah, maybe. I think part of my initial knee jerk opposition to the article was in the fight [00:02:47] between what's not a terrible thesis, that apparently is, you'll get too many Republicans seem to agree with and like the need to get people to click on it. When you when you want to have like a bold headline, they need him to lose and big. And then your entire thesis is lose. [00:03:02] But the Republicans maintain control of like then no, you don't want him to lose big. You want her to win a little bit so that the Republicans still maintain control of the Senate and the House, then that's not as exciting a premise, is it? But but I get the idea. And I would just remind everyone, some people, especially if you're [00:03:19] new to politics, might look at something like this and be like, well, why would you ever possibly want that? I mean, why would you not want to win? I mean, after all, like our team, if we win, we get what we want, their team. If they win, they get what they want. But as as you know, from covering this for a long time, that's not really how it works. [00:03:34] This is asymmetric warfare like our team, which I would define as not even the entire Democratic Party has a lot of things that we want because we don't have them. The Republicans don't have a lot that they really need. They've they've got, you know, they've gotten the tax cuts that they want. Things are set up pretty much the way they want. [00:03:50] They can lose and they're doing okay because the status quo was already set by them. We need a big victory, right. That as the headline Harris needs to win and big. We need the Senate. We need the House. We need to get people on the Supreme Court and all that. And also don't forget, you know, hopefully flip some state legislatures as well. [00:04:07] Hey, don't scroll away, come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to tight U power. Our honest reporting. You do it at tight.com/team and we love you for it. Here's where things get super interesting with the Politico piece. [00:04:24] So Martin thought that his piece understandably would be very provocative, but actually found that many Republicans agreed with him. And not just your run of the mill like Never Trumpers, right? He didn't, like, sit down with, you know, Kinzinger and base his entire piece [00:04:40] on what Adam Kinzinger has to say. So on or one high level Republican conceding it may only be wishful thinking, even floated the idea of a Harris victory, followed by Biden pardons of both his son, Hunter and Donald Trump. [00:04:57] This is like the magical thinking of the century. Okay. That would take the issue of both cases off Harris's plate and more to the point, drain the energy behind Trump's persecution complex so that Republicans can get on with the business of winning elections. [00:05:15] I don't think these traditional conservative Republicans who secretly despise Donald Trump realize that, like the electorate, like your voters, like Trump, they like the brand of politics he brings to the Republican Party. [00:05:30] Like they think that the second Trump is gone. All right. We're back to Bush era republicanism. I don't think that's necessarily the case. Yeah. I don't think it will be that. And I don't think it will be a replacement Trump that just naturally slots in there, because I don't think that that exists. [00:05:47] I think that the last year has been very rough for that thesis. Ron DeSantis doesn't have that. JD Vance doesn't have it. Now, the good thing for them, if they're looking for a silver lining, is they may well almost certainly not get a person who gets all of the free passes [00:06:03] and all of that that Donald Trump gets, but whoever replaces him won't have so many of the downsides that make it so that, like, his base loves him. But that's a minority of the American population, and he's never going to get the majority to like him. Another Republican might be a little bit more charismatic [00:06:18] or not so horrendous in a lot of ways. And so I don't think the the leadership of the Republican Party is going to be really happy with what comes. And I think that there's a lot of regular Republicans that initially are going to have a lot of whiplash after losing Donald Trump, assuming he doesn't run again, which he totally couldn't. I don't see why he wouldn't. [00:06:34] But I think they might still end up better off electorally than with Donald Trump. So some Republicans and GOP operatives actually fear a second Trump term could take the party in the wrong direction. For example, free market cheerleaders are fretting about Trump's new populist [00:06:51] infused policy platform that embraces tariffs and shies away from tough conversations about entitlements. So these are these are the kinds of Republicans we're talking about here. Okay. These are Republicans who are like, we want to cut Social Security and Medicare so bad. [00:07:07] And this mfer is not committed enough to what we want to do. Okay. He has talked about it during this campaign. He has proposed it in budget proposals when he was in office. So, you know, on one hand he talks about how, no, no, we can't cut Social Security. [00:07:23] But then behind the scenes, of course, he has his proposals to cut Social Security or raise the retirement age. Opponents of abortion rights are upset about his verbal flip flops on abortion and impromptu suggestion that the government should pay for in vitro fertilization treatments. [00:07:38] What happened? I thought, you guys, I thought you guys wanted to increase the birth rate. What happened? - That would be a great way to do that. - Would be a great way to do it. Also, by the way, has he said that again in the last week? No. He just spit out like a wild idea. Has never said it again. [00:07:53] I would be frustrated if I was a Republican Because how were you supposed to read this guy? He says wild things that are directly contradictory. Defense hawks continue to worry about Trump abandoning U.S. Allies and upending the world order in a second term. So I want to be clear about something. [00:08:08] I hate these people. Like I hate what they represent. I hate what they stand for. I think they're cowards. I think even though I disagree with Adam Kinzinger on politics, on policy, he definitely has way more courage than these pathetic little dweebs [00:08:25] in Congress who secretly despise Donald Trump and everything he stands for. But they're too afraid to say anything about it publicly. And instead go to Jonathan Martin over at Politico to talk crap about Trump. Right? You guys are pathetic. Okay. I love how they're total hawks when it comes to foreign policy, [00:08:44] but in real life, they're really chicken. You know what? Okay. I do. Anyway, one conservative leader told Politico, quote, there's a lot of anxiety about what Trump does to the Republican ability to win in 2028, and what he also may do to the party in terms of policy long term. [00:09:02] There is just this concern that like, okay, if the party just goes in that direction, then what kind of party is it? What kind of party is it going forward? And can conservatives then have a home going forward? I mean, you got to take that up with the Republican voters, [00:09:20] because the policies that Trump espouses are policies that seem to appeal to the very voters that you guys want to appeal to, to win in 2028. So how do you make amends with the fact that your base is now [00:09:36] in a completely different headspace when it comes to policies and how they want this country to be run? I think that's a bigger question for them. But there, you know, maybe too scared to tackle it because it seems like they're scared of everything. It's definitely true. Yeah. If I could just say one thing to make them feel a little bit better, [00:09:52] I know that obviously in that graphic, They're very focused. They have anxiety about 2028 or whatever. I don't think that they should be worried about 2028. They're getting way ahead of themselves. They should be worried about 2026, because you get that he's still going to be choosing your Senate candidates in two years, right? Like he's going to choose another round of Doctor Oz's [00:10:08] and Herschel Walker's and stuff like that. Again, the idea that he's just going to go away if he's not in office, all he has is fighting for relevancy to his base. He's going to be doing rallies and he's going to be he's going to be digging his claws into that base. [00:10:24] You better hope that he loses. And then, like, I don't know, has a run in with a fish fillet or something like that that lays him out because otherwise he's got control of the party for at least a few more years. Hey, thanks for watching the video. We really appreciate it guys, and we appreciate it if you become members, [00:10:40] because that allows us to be independent, honest, progressive, all the things that you don't get from corporate media and all of that is because of you guys. Hit the join button below and become one of us. Become a young Turk.